


Recovery

by WayWardWonderer



Category: Ghostbusters (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 03:49:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11478003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WayWardWonderer/pseuds/WayWardWonderer
Summary: An otherwise unwritten scene from Ghostbusters Volume 2.  MAJOR SPOILERS.After exorcising a spirit from his own possessed body, Peter takes a hard fall and has to spend time in the hospital to recover.





	Recovery

With indignation Dr. Peter Venkman pushed himself up from the ground after his twenty foot drop to the ground. Rubbing at his now broken right arm and freshly fractured ribs he glared daggers at his three fellow Ghostbusters and friends. "Alright, which one of ya' mooks shot me?"

Dr. Egon Spengler, Dr. Ray Stantz and Winston Zeddemore exchanged embarrassed, if not guilty, glances to one another before pointing accusing fingers in all directions and answering in chorus. "He did!"

"Ow..." Pete grumbled as he began curling around himself, his arm protectively wrapped across his chest and his hand gripping onto his broken arm.

"Peter," Egon took a step forward. "that was a severe fall. You need to be examined by a doctor."

"You think?" Peter snapped sarcastically. "Just... just help me to the car!" He demanded as his shoulders sagged and posture worsened as he struggled to stand up with the increasing pain wracking through his body. "This sucks!"

Egon took Peter's good arm and wrapped it around his own shoulders. "It isn't too far from Ecto-1. Do you need us to carry you?"

"Oh hell no! That last thing I need is the guys who shot me hoisting me up over their shoulders..."

"We had no choice Peter." Egon reminded the limping Ghostbuster at his side. "We didn't want to shoot at you, but our options were limited."

Ray and Winston looked away nervously as they followed Egon and Peter to the car parked just outside the perimeter of the no longer haunted amusement park.

"Think we should apologize?" Winston whispered to Ray.

"Nah, it's best to just let him be hot for a while." Ray responded quietly as he stopped short to pick up a dropped stuffed monkey from the ground. Pocketing the odd souvenir Ray caught up to his friends. "After he gets doped up on painkillers at the hospital we can say something."

"Good plan."

Egon helped Peter to lean against the side of the car before slipping the proton pack from Peter's shoulders, being very careful to aggravate the injury to Peter's arm. Opening the rear passenger door for his injured friend Egon helped Peter to climb inside the car. "Do you want to lay down on the floor?"

"I've seen what grimy, slimey, nasty pieces of equipment you guys throw on the floor back here." Peter muttered as Egon helped him climb into the backseat. "I'll use the seat if you don't mind!"

"No." Egon climbed in to sit behind Peter and shut the door. "I don't mind."

Ray tentatively took his seat up front while Winston took his seat behind the wheel. The drive to the hospital wouldn't take too long, but with Peter sore and grumpy the trip would feel like an eternity for the other Ghostbusters.

Peter was leaning forward in his seat, his face beading with sweat as the pain from his broken bones radiated throughout his upper body. Egon hesitantly put a sympathetic hand on Peter's shoulders but didn't say a word, hoping the silence would offer some level of comfort to the injured man.

"We're here." Winston announced as he put Ecto-1 into park.

"...'bout time." Peter complained.

Keeping his silence Egon opened the passenger door and slid out offering his hand for Peter to take. Ray and Winston patiently waited beside the car while Egon helped Peter to climb out of the backseat and escort him into the hospital for treatment.

Limping noticeably and taking in shallow panting breaths Peter allowed Egon to partially carry him in through the doors of the hospital where a doctor took immediate interest. The doctor helped Egon carry Peter toward the nearest exam room, where a nurse met them with a wheelchair.

Ray and Winston watched as Peter was helped to sit down in the offered wheelchair, the doctor slipping his stethoscope into his ears and running the bell down inside Peter's jumpsuit to listen to his chest.

"He looks pretty rough." Winston observed from the distance.

"Well, he was possessed by an ancient spirit and did a swan dive onto the pavement." Ray reminded his concerned friend.

"Ten bucks says he'll be a real pain in the butt until he's medically cleared."

"No way, if I want to throw away ten dollars I'll play the lottery."

After Peter was wheeled away for examination Egon, Ray and Winston took seats in the waiting room and contemplated the bizarre call the team had answered. The prospect of dealing with Peck in the aftermath of the events at the amusement park was almost as repugnant as dealing with an injured Peter Venkman.

The doctor who had treated Peter informed the three waiting Ghostbusters of his current condition and escorted the trio back to see their downed colleague.

Peter was set up in a private room, sitting upright in his bed with his right arm contained in a blue sling and an IV running into his left arm. A look of contentment was plastered over his face as the painkillers slowly began taking effect.

"How do you feel?" Egon asked as he stood at the end of Peter's bed.

"Like I fell onto concrete." Peter quipped dryly as he rubbed his left hand up and down his right side.

"Want us to stay with you?" Ray offered sincerely as he took in the miserable sight of his friend in the hospital bed.

"No way, I want you three as far away from me as possible!" Peter huffed as he continued to pout over being shot by three proton beams.

"Alright, we'll go." Winston agreed. "But we'll be back first thing in the morning. Get some rest, we'll see you then."

"Sure. See ya'!" Peter leaned back in his bed and gave his friends a sheepish grin.

As Ray and Winston slipped out through the door Egon remained steadfast.

"You're not upset with us, are you?"

"No." Peter admitted. "But it's fun to mess with Ray!"

"Do you really want us to leave?"

"Nah, you can stay if you want." Peter let out a deep sigh. "Maybe then you can tell me about-"

"Peter," Egon interrupted firmly. "for what it's worth I would never intentionally attempt to inflict harm on your person. We are friends and it was a great struggle to open fire."

"I... uh." Peter was at a rare loss for words. "It's fine 'big guy', I'll be up and out of this bed before you know it." He let out a long sleepy yawn, flinching as the act put physical strain on his four fractured ribs. "I'm too tough."

"You're also too tired to continue conversing. It'd be best for you to get some rest."

"Best idea you've had all night Spengz." Peter closed his eyes and laid his head down on the pillow. "See you in the morning."

Egon gave Peter an approving smirk as he went to inform Ray and Winston of his decision to stay overnight at the hospital with Peter. After returning to the room he took a seat in the chair beside the bed and watched Peter dozing lightly in the bed before falling asleep himself.

The night was peaceful until the early morning hours. Egon had been awoken by the sound of Peter groaning in pain and struggling to get comfortable in the bed. "Peter?" Egon adjusted his glasses as he leaned over the bed. "Peter, what's wrong?"

"My... my stomach!" He all but blurted as he rolled onto his right side, his left hand white knuckled gripped at his stomach.

Moving to the door Egon called out for help. "Doctor! Come quick!" Before Egon had the chance to ask any further questions a doctor and two nurses rushed into the room.

Stepping back Egon watched as the nurses worked together to keep Peter laying still on his back while the doctor listened to his chest again with the stethoscope and began running his hand over Peter's stomach, palpitating his abdomen with trained fingers.

"Ruptured appendix." The doctor announced. "Call the O.R., he needs to go up now."

Egon was stunned by the revelation. Unable to assist or follow Peter he watched as Peter was loaded onto a gurney by two arriving orderlies and wheeled out of the room to emergency surgery.

"Peter?" Egon nearly whispered. "I can't lose another friend..." He told himself. "No. This is nothing like Eugene. Peter will be fine." Steeling his nerves he left the now vacant room and located a phone to call Ray and Winston. "Peter will be just fine."

As the sun rose Ray and Winston arrived at the hospital and found Egon sitting alone in the waiting room. It didn't take long for Egon to explain to them that the severity of the impact from the fall had ruptured Peter's appendix. The reason the injury hadn't been identified during the preliminary exam stemmed from the pain of the broken ribs masking the pain of the damaged internal organ that had taken significant damage and resulted in a slow hemorrhage causing the appendix to finally rupture from the trauma.

"Oh man." Winston was shaken by the ordeal. "I had no idea how bad it was just from looking at Peter. He was standing up, talking, walking... Never thought he'd need emergency surgery."

"At five in the morning..." Ray tagged on. "Poor guy."

"Gentlemen," Egon spoke up. "I can assure you with utmost confidence that Peter will make a full recovery. Be patient."

After three mercilessly slow hours the doctor approached the gathered trio in the waiting room and informed them of Peter's condition. He was stable but still being closely monitored for any sign of potential complication.

"We'd like to keep him admitted for the rest of the week," the doctor confirmed. "he tolerated the surgery very well but is still at risk of contracting an infection; I'm especially concerned about pneumonia setting in."

"He's not going to like this." Ray sighed.

"But it's for his own good." Egon agreed with the doctor. "I'll let Peter know what's going on, he's least likely to lash out at me considering the circumstances."

...One Week Later...

Janine visits Peter in the hospital with a gift from Ray to deliver. Peter has made great strides in recovery despite his broken arm, fractured ribs and emergency appendectomy. A smug satisfaction knowing that his stay in the hospital worked to his advantage against Peck and his newly instated rules on physical requirements put Peter in the best mood since having the Ghostbusters founded all those years ago.

The only thing that ruined his cheery disposition is the gift from Ray, which was the stuffed monkey from the haunted amusement park.

"$%&&* RAY!"

**-The End**


End file.
